Everything it does
The part of photography that happens before editing: getting the frames in, finding the ones that matter, judging them properly, and getting them out.
RAW that opens
The cameras you shoot with, and the ones you used to. When one way of reading a photo fails, Katami tries the next, so files other apps give up on still open here, Sigma's Foveon included.
Tested on 612 real photos, sixty-odd formats. Every one opened.
Makers
- Sony
- Canon
- Nikon
- Fujifilm
- Leica
- Hasselblad
- Panasonic
- OM System
- Phase One
- Sigma
- Pentax
- Ricoh
- DJI
- GoPro
- Apple
And
- RAW + JPEG as one photo
- Live Photos
- Animated images
Your sources, not a catalog
Point Katami at a folder on this Mac, a drive, a card or a network share, and it reads your photos where they already live. Nothing is imported, copied, moved or renamed.
Then it follows each source. Add, rename or delete a photo in the Finder, or in any other app, and the library keeps up on its own. Unplug the drive and its photos stay browsable, dimmed until it is back; plug it in and Katami catches up the way you choose.
Remove a source and Katami forgets what it knew, never the files. Every action that could touch a file says so, in plain words, before it does.
- ⇧⌘IAdd a source
- DropAny of them
Every source knows its state
| Online | Everything opens |
|---|---|
| Offline | Still browsable, dimmed until the drive is back |
| Missing | The folder was moved or renamed |
| No permission | macOS asks once, then it is back |
When a drive comes back
- Catch up on its own
- Ask me first
- Only when I open it
One library over all of it
Every source, every drive, one library. The sidebar starts with the collections you reach for, and the ones with nothing in them stay out of the way until they have.
| All Photos | Everything, with a live count |
|---|---|
| Recents | What you added or opened last |
| Favorites | Once you have favourited something |
| Hidden | Photos you or Katami put away |
| People | Faces, grouped and named on your Mac |
| Map | Every photo with a place |
| Recently Trashed | The last 30 days, ready to put back |
A card lands in its own session
Put a camera card in and it becomes a session: copied into your Pictures folder, grouped into moments and bursts, the sharpest frames proposed as picks.
Go through it one verdict at a time, compare two frames side by side at 100%, and finish: the picks move where you want them, the rest wait 30 days.
- ⏎Pick
- AAlternate
- ⌫Out
- LLater
- ⌘⏎Finish
- ⇧⌘KA session from a selection
Hidden, and safe to delete
Move to Trash is the only thing that can lose a photo, and it waits 30 days.
| Hide | Yourself, or let Katami hide sensitive photos: strict, balanced, or explicit only |
|---|---|
| Lock | Hidden and Recently Trashed each ask for Touch ID or your password, and stay open until you quit |
| Trash | Waits 30 days. The file goes to the Finder's Trash too |
| Put Back | Restores the photo and the file |
Albums that check the set
Gather photos into albums, and albums into folders. An album can keep its photos out of All Photos entirely. Open one and Katami reads the set as a whole.
- How big it can print
- Versions and stacks
- Shoots and cameras
- Places
- Does it hang together?
- What needs a second look
Library Health, only when needed
Each check appears in the sidebar only while there is something to do, and leaves when there is not. Every one has its own remedy, and a way to say "this is fine, stop asking" that you can take back. No dashboard, no health score.
What it looks for
- Exact duplicates
- Damaged files
- Similar shots & bursts
- Misnamed files
- Blurred frames
- Over- and under-exposed
- RAW + JPEG pairs
- Only one copy
- Sensor dust
A viewer for judging, not just looking
Twelve inspection tools, each on one key, each answering one question. Is it sharp? Did the highlights clip, and can they come back? Where did the camera think it was focusing?
The loupe follows the cursor and magnifies what you see, tools included, so you can loupe the focus peaking itself.
- FFocus
- AAF point
- CClipping
- ZZebras
- BBlack and white
- EExposure
- WWaveform
- XFalse colour
- PEdge patrol
- NNoise
- JFringing
- DDust
Open a photo, no library needed
Right-click a photo in the Finder and choose Open With Katami. It opens in its own window, the viewer and every tool, without adding it to anything. Import the folder later, or never.
A histogram that points back
Luminance with red, green and blue. Isolate a channel, zoom in, and hover a tone to see where it sits in the photo.
Composition, drawn over the frame
Grids to check a frame against, aspect frames and cine guides, a level for the horizon, and a Dynamic Grid of guides you draw yourself.
Ten grids
- Rule of thirds
- Phi
- Centre
- Diagonals
- Golden spiral
- Golden triangles
- Diagonal method
- Dynamic symmetry
- Square and aspects
- Cine guides
- GCycle the grids
- VDynamic Grid
Search that reads like a sentence
Type what you remember and each part becomes a filter you can combine with the others. Save a search you come back to. When one finds nothing, Katami says which single filter to drop.
▍f/1.835 mmMunich
Type it the way you would say it
- f/1.8Aperture
- ISO 400Sensitivity
- 35 mmFocal length
- August 2025Date
- NikonCamera
- MunichPlace
Twenty traits no camera writes down
- Black & White
- Long Exposure
- Wide Open
- Blown Highlights
- Crushed Shadows
- Low Light
- Photos with Text
- Best Shots
- Smiling
- One Person
- Two People
- Groups
- Telephoto
- Ultra Wide
- Flash
- Panoramas
- Live Photos
- Screenshots
- High Resolution
- No Location
It knows what is in the frame
Katami recognises 1,303 kinds of object and scene, writes a caption for every photo, and reads the words inside the frame — a sign, a menu, a race number. All of it becomes searchable.
It happens in the background, on your Mac, while you work. Everything works before it finishes; it only gets better as it goes.
People, without a cloud
Faces are found and grouped into people on your Mac. Name them, merge two that are the same person, and ignore the statue and the stranger in the background. When a photo is filed under the wrong person, say "this isn't them".
- Anna
- Omar
- Add name
A map that is a map
Search a place from the same field you search the library.
- Pins that are the photos
- Edit Location
What leaves your Mac
Recognition, captions, faces and text all run on your Mac. Your photos are never uploaded, and nothing in the app reports on how you use it: no analytics, no tracking.
This is everything that ever leaves, and when.
| When | What | To |
|---|---|---|
| Signing in, and checking the licence | Your email, the Mac's name, the app version, and a fingerprint of the Mac (never its hardware ID) | Bespoke Byte |
| Checking for updates and models, daily and at launch | The app version, the fingerprint and your sign-in, so only a licensed Mac downloads. An update installs only when you press Update | Bespoke Byte |
| Reporting a problem, only when you send it | Your note, recent log lines with your names replaced, a few counts and your Mac's model; pictures only if you add them | Bespoke Byte |
| Naming a place, drawing the map, searching for a place | A photo's coordinates, or the place you typed | Apple Maps |
Export, set up once
Save how you export as a preset. Quick Export then sends a whole selection through it with no questions, and Edit With hands a photo to the editor you already use.
- Formats
- Metadata
- Watermark
- Presets
- ⌘EExport
- ⇧⌘EQuick Export